Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Doping is the scourge of modern sport and the can of worms that is the systematic Russian sport doping looks set continue to hog the headlines at the Rio Olympics.

The ability to grab an advantage through cheating has been around sport forever, however, in the last 50 years cheating has gone to new levels, with the use of artificial stimulants and other banned substances.

Living in utopia in New Zealand, it's easy to think that doping in sport is mainly the preserve of former Eastern Bloc counties. However, the reality is that it's a lot closer to home than we often think about.

The positive test of an Australian Greco-Roman wrestler has seen a kiwi wrestler become a late addition to the New Zealand Olympic team bound for Rio.

Craig Miller, who originally hails from Dunedin but is based in Canberra, is Olympics bound to wear the kiwi black uniform.

In recent weeks, the Australian grappler, who defeated Miller at Africa/Oceania qualifying event in Algeria in April, was disqualified from Olympic participation after a doping violation.

The late addition of the kiwi wrestler has also opened the door for a Western Bay coach to stand in Millers' corner.

Wrestling New Zealand National coach Mark Grayling, who is also the Mount Maunganui Wrestling club head coach, has a lifetime of experience in the sport as an athlete and coach.

The Mount resident has played a big part of his sports revival after dropping off the countries sports radar.

Greco-Roman wrestling is similar to the wrestling practised in ancient Mediterranean civilisations, especially at the Ancient Greek Olympics. Unlike Olympic freestyle wrestling, there is no attacking opponents with an upper body focus.

Greco-Roman wrestling was a big European sport in the 19th century with most of Europe's capital cities hosting international competition. Professional 19th century Greco-Roman competition was known for its brutality with body-slams, choke-holds and head butting allowed, before being outlawed.

Greco-Roman wrestling was one of the original sports of the modern Olympics that began in Athens in 1896.

However, in the intervening years freestyle competition has overtaken Greco-Roman wrestling in popularity, to where today it is regarded as the preserve of wrestling traditionalists.

Unlike boxing - which used to go hand with wrestling until the 1950's - New Zealand wrestling has never won an Olympic medal.

It's worth remembering as we head for the start of Olympics on Saturday (NZ time) that our countries first Olympic gold medal was on by welterweight boxer Ted Morgan at the 1928 Olympics Games held in Amsterdam.

It will be business as usual at the Mount Maunganui Wrestling Club while their head coach is away in Rio, with preparations under full steam for the two pinnacle events on the Wrestling New Zealand calendar.

On Sunday, August 21, the Katikati Wrestling Club will host the WNZ Club Championships with the WNZ National Championships being staged in Hamilton 8-10 September 2016.

Leading the way for Mount Maunganui at both tournaments will be 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Tayla Ford, while double Australian National titleholder Chris Galbraith-Clarke will wear the Mount Maunganui uniform at the National Championships in the Waikato.